


Sow

by aoanli



Series: Playtime Universe [2]
Category: Super Junior
Genre: F/M, It hurt my emo soul to write this, No for real they're disgusting, this is just pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27937342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aoanli/pseuds/aoanli
Summary: Kyuhyun bailed on Sungmin and Ryeowook to hang out with his not-girlfriend. Little does he know, his absence would enable the mess that is Playtime's Chapter 19 to occur, but it was for the greater good of his own relationship (maybe).
Series: Playtime Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955998
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Sow

**Author's Note:**

> It took me like, way too long to write this. This is barely half the word count of a single Playtime chapter and it took me longer to write it than it does for the main story. Kyuhyun was just nowhere to be found and I blame Assassin's Creed Valhalla for ruining my life for about two weeks lmao
> 
> Also, don't expect Kyuhyun's crush's identity to be a big reveal because it was never meant to be one. I just thought it was funny to keep calling her his "not-girlfriend" lmao. In fact, I'm gonna spoil it right here, because I don't expect everyone to know who she is given I use her Chinese name. It's Victoria from f(x), because I'm nostalgic of the old ships and the oppa story lives in my mind rent free. Song Qian is her Chinese name; as for her roommate Sunyoung, it's her bandmate Luna (and not Ryeowook's irl girlfriend Ari), aka my bias, so don't ask me why I turned her into... the character she is because I swear I love her to death
> 
> As always, thanks to [Pau](http://twitter.com/SJpyeongpyeong) for tolerating my ass once again and [follow me on Twitter](http://twitter.com/domjwoon) to get updates on the actual main story of Playtime, though it may take me longer to update since I'm getting top surgery on December 16 (for those of you who don't know, I am trans, hello) but up until then I'll still be working on Chapter 20 :)
> 
> DISCLAIMER : You absolutely DO NOT need to read this chapter to understand the events of [Playtime](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21430246). There are no spoilers for chapter 20 in this (except maybe the ending, but it's honestly not a huge deal and the same phone conversation will appear in chapter 20 so really, you don't need to read this). I just wrote it for fun because a lot of people seemed to like Kyuhyun's character and I wanted to give him the spotlight for one time to show a different side of him—I intend on writing more of these bonus chapters in the future, though I currently don't plan on doing so for now. But if you have a suggestion, please don't hesitate to let me know either here or in my DMs on Twitter !! Any idea is welcome !

Kyuhyun contemplates the idea of throwing his phone against the wall when it starts buzzing loudly next to him and forces him awake against his will before _he’s done sleeping_ on a _Sunday_. He curses whoever made it a social norm to live during the day—he really isn’t a morning person at all, and his habit of going to bed as the sun rises makes it difficult for him to wake up at _normal people_ hours.

His reaction would’ve probably been less intense if Sungmin hadn’t decided to vacuum the entire apartment about thirty minutes ago, but the fact that he has to deal with this right as he was about to fall asleep again is his breaking point.

The light from his phone screen makes him grunt when he opens the text messages he’s just received—most of them are from the group chat he’s in with both Sungmin and Ryeowook, and he’s confused for a moment as to why they would be using that one when there’s no emergency at their apartment as far as he knows.

 _‘I’m finally free from practice today and it’s pouring out’_ , Sungmin’s first text reads. _‘I’m so bored, I hate this’_

The obsessive vacuuming makes sense now, Kyuhyun thinks.

 _‘Where’s Kyuhyun ?’_ Ryeowook replies almost immediately.

 _‘It’s 11AM’_ , Sungmin retorts. _‘You know he’s still sleeping’_

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes at that—he _would be_ if Sungmin had decided to let him, but it wasn’t in his friend’s plans to do that, apparently.

 _‘Go wake him up’_ , Ryeowook suggests, and it makes Kyuhyun chuckle a little because of how ironic this is.

‘I just finished vacuuming the entire place twice’, Sungmin responds. ‘He’s still sleeping like a brick’

 _‘*WAS sleeping like a brick'_ , Kyuhyun corrects him then, now all caught up with their conversation. _‘The vacuum did wake me up, but I managed to go back to sleep before my phone started buzzing all of a sudden’_

Kyuhyun is mostly teasing in his reproach, but he really, really isn’t a morning person, so he’s still a little bitter about it. It’s just not like him to make a big deal out of those things.

 _‘Not my fault you go to bed at 5AM every day’_ , Sungmin counters. He’s got a point, but still. It’s rude.

 _‘It’s your fault for starting this conversation here when you could’ve just texted Ryeowook directly’_ , Kyuhyun argues.

 _‘I wanted to hang out with you both’_ , Sungmin justifies. _‘If Ryeowook is free’_

 _‘And you’re not asking me ?’_ Kyuhyun gasps dramatically, faking offense.

 _‘Should I just leave you both to your married couple quarrel ?’_ Ryeowook jokes then.

It makes Kyuhyun laugh a little, because he, Sungmin and Ryeowook really do act like a stereotypical drama family at times—Sungmin is the overprotective, slightly overbearing mother, he’s the nonchalant embarrassing father and Ryeowook is their only son. It’s not something he would’ve expected from having roommates, but he doesn’t really mind that. It makes things interesting more often than not.

 _‘No, please don’t leave me alone with him today’,_ Sungmin pleads. Rightfully so, because there’s no way Kyuhyun would’ve let him get away with what he’s done scot-free. _‘I can’t go out because of the rain and I don’t want to be stuck here with him ㅠㅠ’_

 _‘Luckily for you, I’ve got something planned already’_ , Kyuhyun scoffs. He’d be lying if he claimed he wasn’t at least a little bit smug about it.

 _‘Your girlfriend ?’_ Ryeowook teases.

Kyuhyun sighs. It’s not really the jokes that bother him all that much; he knows his friends are just fooling around, but having to correct them every time leaves a little pinch in his heart that makes him uncomfortable. He really likes Qian, more than he thought he did barely just a week ago. Talking about her to Jongwoon and Ryeowook made him realize that, and he hasn’t really stopped thinking about it since then. And while he still stands by what he said about wanting to let things evolve naturally, he can’t help but think he’d also love to officially call her his girlfriend, and he isn’t really fond of being reminded that she isn’t.

 _‘She’s not my girlfriend’_ , he corrects. _‘But yes, her. I promised I’d hang out with her today. Sorry guys’_

Kyuhyun doesn’t bother keeping up with the chat longer, instead muting it and setting his phone to the side again. He’s wide awake now, so his chances of going back to sleep are slim if not nonexistent, but he doesn’t feel like getting up quite just yet. He’s supposed to be joining Qian at her place around one in the afternoon, but waiting for two hours staring at the ceiling—especially since he’ll be waiting for something he’s looking forward to—really doesn’t sound appealing to him at all either. He tends to be very susceptible to boredom and it drives him insane at times.

Sighing in frustration, Kyuhyun reaches out for his phone once again almost machinally. If he’s going to spend the afternoon with Qian anyway, he doesn’t see what he’s got to lose in asking her if he can come now instead of wasting his time doing _nothing_ for that long; he doubts she’s going to tell him no, too.

 _‘Hey’_ , Kyuhyun sends first, hoping to catch her attention before he sends the rest of his message. _‘Is it cool if I come annoy you earlier ?’_

It doesn’t take very long for the little speech bubble to appear on her side, indicating that she’s typing her response. Kyuhyun guesses she’s probably just as bored as he is, and he’d be right.

 _‘OMG’_ , Qian exclaims. _‘You’re up before noon ? On a Sunday ? And asking to see me ? Wow. Just admit you’re obsessed and go’_

 _‘Says the one who kept nagging me to come so she could take her revenge for beating her last time’,_ Kyuhyun teases. _‘Looks like the obsession is mutual ;)’_

 _‘Ew’_ , Qian immediately replies, adding a vomiting emoji to emphasize her message. _‘Excuse me sir, I have standards’_

 _‘Ah, yes, standards’_ , Kyuhyun repeats sarcastically. _‘Like that weird dude who kept rambling about football that you ended up making out with at Junmyeon’s birthday party ? What was his name again ? Minwoo ?’_

 _‘Minho’_ , she corrects. _‘And he’s not weird, just a little awkward. YOU’RE weird’_

 _‘And yet you’ve asked me to come over instead of him’_ , Kyuhyun reminds her, pushing her into a corner.

 _‘I can always change my mind and text him’_ , Qian argues.

 _‘Don’t’_ , Kyuhyun commands. _‘I’m on my way’_

 _‘Hold up, I never told you you could come’_ , Qian tries to stop him.

 _‘No need to’_ , Kyuhyun smirks to himself. _‘I know you’re just as eager to see me as I am to see you ;)’_

 _‘You wish, Bread Boy’_ , Qian snickers. _‘You better move your ass before I decide to lock you outside in the rain’_

 _‘*Move my buns’_ , Kyuhyun jokes—the pun hurts his soul, but that’s how he knows it’s a good one. And though he knows she meant it as an insult, he can’t help but think the nickname she gave him after he accidentally said he was craving _bread_ instead of _noodles_ once is strangely endearing in a way. And it’s not his fault that _miànbāo_ and _miàntiáo_ sound similar enough to mix up; he’s fluent in Chinese but that doesn’t mean he can’t make mistakes sometimes.

 _‘I hate you’_ , Qian rolls her eyes.

 _‘Of course you do ♡’_ , Kyuhyun humors her, chuckling to himself before putting his phone aside once more.

Grunting, Kyuhyun forces himself to roll out of bed, still a bit numb and stiff from sleep, before allowing his body to work on autopilot and guide him to the bathroom, grabbing the towel hanging from his desk chair as he passes by. A shower is just what he needs to fully wake up, he reckons.

It also gives him time to ponder over certain things regarding his relationship with her and how it’s evolved since they’ve met. Kyuhyun still can’t really wrap his head around how easy it was to befriend her. It honestly felt like they already knew each other, like old friends who reunited after a long time, and it’s something he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to explain. He’s always been a more Cartesian person, so basing his judgement on feelings isn’t something he’s used to at all. But with her, he found that logic can’t really be applied, and their friendship has allowed him to connect with his emotions much more easily than he could before.

It’s not a completely unpleasant change, though it’s still a little disorienting for him.

They’ve got a good thing going on, and it’s all that matters to him.

Kyuhyun sarcastically wonders why he did bother to take a shower in the end when just the walk from his car parked in Qian’s empty designated spot—not having a car can be convenient sometimes—to her apartment building is enough to completely drench him. It hadn’t been that bad when he left, but the rain seemed to have doubled in volume and intensity in the short time it took him to drive to her place.

Qian struggles to contain her laughter when she opens the door to see him nearly dripping in the hallway, which earns her a disapproving glare from Kyuhyun who fakes being annoyed at her behavior.

“Did you swim on your way here or are those from your tears of excitement that you were coming to see me ?” She raises an eyebrow as she speaks, unable to conceal the obvious amused smile on her face.

“ _Definitely_ tears of excitement,” Kyuhyun plays along, and the mischievous smirk that tugs at the corner of his lips warns Qian that he’s definitely up to something, but Kyuhyun is too unpredictable for her to get an idea of what it could be. “I am so, _so_ happy to see you,” he adds overdramatically before pulling her against him as retaliation.

It feels like she’s hugging a wet, cold sponge, and her shirt is soon sticking to her too. She tries to wrestle free of his grasp, but there’s not much she can do against a guy who’s an entire head taller than her except kneeing him in the balls, but that might be a little too extreme, even for her.

Qian quickly has to shake away the thought that it would’ve been a comforting embrace if it weren’t for the fact that he was drenched before she starts zoning out and fading into dreamland. She almost facepalms herself at the realization that her very obvious crush on him only seems to be getting worse, and she’s pretty sure Kyuhyun has noticed, too. At least that’s what she deduced from his attitude towards her in the past week, because he’s grown weirdly more flirtatious with her and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t like it.

She just continues to tease him because he’s such a perfect target and his expressions can literally make her day. And she likes the banter too, even if it often results in Kyuhyun throwing puns at her that have her questioning her will to live.

“I hate you so much right now,” Qian grumbles.

“Is that why you stopped fighting me ?” Kyuhyun teases.

In return, Qian is back to trying to push him away—no way in Hell he’s going to get the upper hand. Not today.

“I will kick you out and let you drown in the rain,” Qian threatens, but she seemingly doesn’t sound very convincing, if the snort it earns her is anything to go by.

“That’s assuming you can push me back outside,” Kyuhyun winks, and to prove his point, he walks them in the direction of the living room with ease, despite Qian’s protests and attempts at stopping him.

“At least take your hoodie off before you flood the entire apartment,” she complains. He’s not dripping anymore but to have him pressed so flush against her is really uncomfortable, and she knows she’ll have to change too now.

“I barely just arrived and you’re already asking me to take my clothes off ?” Kyuhyun pokes at her suggestively. “Who’s the most eager to see the other now, I wonder ?”

“Shut up,” Qian grumbles, finally managing to push herself free from his grasp when he loosens his hold on her to do as he was just told.

His hoodie is so drenched and sticky that its colour rubs off on his white t-shirt underneath, leaving a light blue tint on the fabric that he has no hope will completely wash off no matter how hard he tries, unless he brings in the bleach, but he’s nowhere near that dedicated to the cause. In fact, despite his efforts and the number of times he has to tug it down as he pulls up his other garment, his shirt stubbornly decides to follow suit and it takes him a ridiculous amount of time to get it off in the end.

He’s also too focused on his task and his attempt at toning down the embarrassment he gets from struggling to do such a simple thing to notice that Qian is very obviously staring at him, and more specifically so at the sliver of skin showing off at his waist as his shirt riles up and he gives up trying to pull it back down. It’s not something he does on purpose, but it bespeaks of the confusing mess of thoughts going on in her mind in that moment; they become _especially_ chaotic when she spots the tiny, barely visible happy trail going down to his belt. God, she’s so glad Kyuhyun isn’t paying attention to her right now.

Qian catches herself pondering over how attractive Kyuhyun is in his own special and quite strange way, because he’s so far off from what she’d consider to be her ideal type. She’s usually the kind of person who will lean more toward fit guys—but not super muscular either—and while Kyuhyun’s stomach at least appears toned, there’s no discernible ab definition which is what would normally have her _staring_. But there’s something really endearing about Kyuhyun that she can’t quite put her finger on, and for the first time, she realizes that she is actually attracted to him physically and not just to his personality. Her crush on him is just getting worse and she kind of hates herself for that, because that guy is an embarrassing idiot whose jokes hurt her to the core and he’s so, _so_ annoying, yet he’s so frustratingly likeable that she ended up liking him as more than a friend and she sometimes wishes she hadn’t. It hasn’t been very long since she realized that, but it’s been the only thing on her mind whenever they were together since then and it’s starting to make her antsy.

“Where do I put this ?” Kyuhyun pulls her back from her daydreaming.

Qian blinks at him. “Oh, huh, you can put it in the dryer in the bathroom,” she stammers a little.

Kyuhyun is a tad puzzled at Qian’s odd behaviour, but he chooses not to comment on it for now because he really has no idea why she’s so flustered all of a sudden and it makes teasing complicated. He just nods at her before making his way down the hall, and without a thought, he pushes the door open—it wasn’t shut all the way in, so he didn’t think anything of it—only to be startled by the sight of Qian’s roommate, Sunyoung, standing in front of the sink and screaming in surprise at his sudden appearance.

“What the— oh no, you’ve got to be _kidding_ me,” Sunyoung gawps almost offendedly when she realizes who just barged into the bathroom, staring at him through the mirror. “What are you doing here ?”

“Qian told me to put this in the dryer,” Kyuhyun retorts as he shows her his hoodie, and he squints at her in annoyance when she turns around to face him.

“No, I meant, what are you doing here in _my apartment_ ?” she clarifies.

“Well, currently I’m having an unwanted conversation with you,” Kyuhyun scoffs as he walks past her to put his drenched clothes in the dryer.

It’s not his type to get so passive-aggressive with someone, at least not this openly, but Sunyoung is truly aggravating and the fact that she’s there when Qian assured him that they would be alone suffices to ruin his mood almost completely. He understands that Qian wasn’t aware of who Sunyoung was when she responded to her post on social media saying she was looking for a roommate, so he can’t blame his friend for associating with her, but he honestly wishes he and Qian would’ve been friends before she made that mistake.

If there’s one type of person Kyuhyun genuinely despises, it’s hypocrites, and Sunyoung is the black and white definition of one.

Frustrated, Sunyoung rolls her eyes and walks out, not wanting to be stuck with him breathing the same air for longer. She’s also looking for answers, since Kyuhyun refuses to give them to her, and Qian, who’s waiting in the hallway with a worried expression on her face—the shouting was certainly concerning—is her next best option.

“Did you invite him over ?” Sunyoung demands, though it’s more a rhetorical question than anything else.

“Well, yeah,” Qian replies, a little confused. “It’s not like he just came in through the window to say ‘hi’.”

“I can’t believe it,” Sunyoung groans in defeat. “Why would you be friends with this guy ?”

“Why would I not ?” Qian throws back at her, though there isn’t any malice behind it. She genuinely doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about.

“Leave it be, Qian,” Kyuhyun sighs as he walks up to his friend, completely ignoring Sunyoung’s presence. He’s not going to let her ruin his fun with Qian today, and pretending as though she wasn’t there is the only option he found to prevent that. “You don’t have to answer her.”

It’s definitely strange that Kyuhyun is acting as though she was the one getting persecuted when he’s the one being targeted, but his protective nature, as subtle as it usually appears, is one of the reasons she’s so drawn to him in the first place.

“Don’t try to change the subject, Cho,” Sunyoung calls. “This is _my_ place too, I’m allowed to say that I don’t want you here.”

“I just don’t have the time nor energy to deal with your tantrum,” Kyuhyun counters. He really sounds like he’s two seconds away from giving up and dragging Qian away with him to a quieter place. “And she doesn’t have to get involved in this either.”

“Funny how you want to keep her out of it when you don’t seem to have a problem getting your nose into other people’s private lives,” Sunyoung scoffs. Of course it would boil down to that in the end—Kyuhyun expected it.

“Yeah, I don’t think accidentally walking in on you with your hands into another guy’s pants when you were still dating Changmin counts as invasion of privacy,” Kyuhyun brings up bitterly.

Kyuhyun genuinely doesn’t understand why she despises him so much when she’s the one at fault here. She fucked up and he told on her because he thought his friend deserved to know—she can resent him all she wants, but the fact that she acts as though he was the bad guy here is laughable at best.

Some people just don’t want to admit fault, as sad as it sounds.

Qian’s gaze pans out from her roommate to her friend, shocked to learn this new bit of information she had no clue about before. Sunyoung has always been a little stand-offish with her and they don’t have much in common, so they don’t tend to interact much besides basic courtesy, but she hadn’t imagined her to be _that_ kind of person and this changes so much about the way she perceives her now. She doesn’t really know Changmin that well, only having seen him a few times, but she knows he and Kyuhyun are close and it makes perfect sense for her friend to dislike her that much.

“I don’t think you get to question who I decide to hang out with, then,” Qian chips in, unable to fully hide the disgust on her face. “At least we’re not playing each other like that.”

Not that they could because they’re not a couple, Kyuhyun thinks, but he stays silent. He doesn’t care if Sunyoung thinks they’re a _thing_ based off of Qian’s answer; it’s probably going to piss her off and it’s a win in his book. He hates the way Sunyoung makes him so petty, but he really can’t stand people who backstab and hurt his friends like that. Changmin was devastated by what she did and he doesn’t think he has it in him to forgive her for that.

“I honestly thought you had higher standards,” Sunyoung accuses, trying to deflect the subject. Kyuhyun also knows she’s implying she’d cheat on him too if she were her, and he just feels like laughing at that.

“Well,” Qian begins, her tone a little more playful now, and she takes Kyuhyun by surprise by hugging his arm; he knows she’s doing it just to spite Sunyoung, but it feels… nice, to have her hold on to him like that. It feels right. He likes it. “He’s a high quality dumbass, so I do think my standards are high enough, thank you very much.”

That’s an answer Kyuhyun _should_ have expected, but she’d been so nice to him up until now that it completely throws him off, and he’s left staring at her in absolute disbelief, mouth agape, but the faint traces of a smile tug at the corner of his lips and betray the offense in his expression. She still confirmed that he did meet her standards, as unconventional as they seem to be, afterall.

“You know what ? _Fine_ ,” Sunyoung gives up, throwing her hands up the air dramatically. “Let him stay if you want to, but I’m getting out of here because this is just gross and I don’t want to be stuck here any longer.”

Qian remains attached to Kyuhyun’s arm as they both watch Sunyoung make her way to the door, not even bothering to bring anything but her phone and handbag with her. She was supposed to spend a few days with her current boyfriend, the guy she cheated on Changmin with—and she would’ve been gone by the time Kyuhyun got there if he’d stuck to the time they initially agreed to meet up on—but she’s so flustered and annoyed that this little detail seems so insignificant to her at the moment.

“Just please make sure he doesn’t touch any of my stuff,” Sunyoung adds, trying to appear threatening and failing at it.

“Will do,” Qian humors her, and as if to really hammer it down into Sunyoung’s mind that Kyuhyun’s not going away, she scoots even closer to him as her roommate leaves, giving her a sarcastic little wave as she disappears into the hallway and shuts the door behind her.

She does let go immediately after, however, to Kyuhyun’s dismay, and lets out a drawn out sigh of relief. She’s gone and the crisis was averted, at least.

“I didn’t know she could be such an ass,” Qian thinks out loud. “Why didn’t you tell me ?”

“You live with her,” Kyuhyun shrugs. “I didn’t want to make it harder for you to be home when she’s there.”

“It’s not like we really interact all that much,” Qian shrugs. “But it’s… really considerate of you to have thought of that.”

“It’s so strange to hear you complimenting me,” Kyuhyun chuckles. “Am I starting to make you soft, Qianqian ?”

Qian visibly cringes at the nickname. She thinks it’s cute, but Kyuhyun tends to use it as a way to belittle her and purposely get under her skin, and she sadly has to admit that it actually works very well at accomplishing just that.

“In your dreams,” she scoffs. “I just didn’t want to indulge in your humiliation kink because I know you love it when I insult you.”

“Oh, because normally you love indulging my kinks ?” Kyuhyun wiggles his eyebrows dramatically—it’s too good of an opportunity to mess with her even more that he doesn’t bother denying her ridiculous assumption, even if it’s false.

“Please shut up,” Qian demands, but the breathy chuckle that escapes her betrays her true feelings.

“I will, but only if you manage to beat me at Mario Kart like you boldly claim you’ll be able to do,” Kyuhyun then challenges her. They’ve spent too long beating around the bush and he needs a distraction from his unwanted encounter with Sunyoung.

“You’re on,” Qian accepts with determination. She’s really cute when she gets competitive, Kyuhyun thinks then. “Go set up the game while I get changed and get ready to get your ass handed to you.”

“Of course,” Kyuhyun bows to her sarcastically.

Qian rolls her eyes at him before leaving for her bedroom to get out of her wet clothes. Her shirt has started to dry out by now, but she doesn’t like the lingering smell of rain that stuck on it; some people think it’s refreshing, but she can’t really see what’s appealing in the earthy, almost metallic scent of mud that comes with it.

Kyuhyun spends a second watching her as she walks away and sighs almost exasperatedly. He’s very aware of where their relationship stands right now—this isn’t a cliché ‘neither confess because they think the other doesn’t like them like that’ thing. He’s very aware that what they both feel for each other is more than just friendship, but he’s at a loss when it comes to figuring out just how he can tip the balance without having to formally ask her out. It just doesn’t suit him—doesn’t suit _them_ , and he really doesn’t wish to rush into it even if it’s starting to get painful being around her _knowing_ they could be more. He’s sure Qian can feel it too, deep down, but she’s a little harder to bend than he is, it seems.

But he’s not that desperate either. There’s probably a reason why Qian is still shutting him down so stubbornly, and whatever that may be, he’s going to respect that.

Kyuhyun is playing around with the game settings in the main menu when Qian comes back in an oversized burgundy hoodie that almost covers up the entirety of her shorts, and Kyuhyun has to take a second look at her to make sure she _is_ indeed still wearing pants.

“Do we go for one versus one or all in with _Grand Prix_ ?” Kyuhyun asks her, turning his attention back to the game.

“Let’s go for _Grand Prix_ so your loss is even more devastating,” Qian prods, poking at his side when she crouches down to pick up her controller.

“Says the one who kept falling off Rainbow Road every five seconds last time,” Kyuhyun reminds her before taking a seat on the couch next to her.

“I was drunk,” she defends.

“So was I and I still beat you,” Kyuhyun smirks, taking the teasing a step further by poking her cheek playfully.

Qian flinches away. “Please don’t do tha—”

“Ssh, the game is starting,” Kyuhyun shushes her, bringing her attention back to the screen.

She almost scolds him for cheating and starting the game without even telling her, but she’s too focused on trying to kick his kart off the course, with little to moderate success. The little fucker is good at dodging his way out, and a red shell shot at her by Bowser crushes her hopes at least for the first lap.

She does, however, laugh very loudly when Kyuhyun gets hit by a blue shell on the second lap and she manages to pass him, which earns her a—deserved—nudge from Kyuhyun, who doesn’t seem too concerned about his current situation right now. Even if he loses on this course, he knows he’s got Rainbow Road in the bag and that Qian really struggles with Bowser’s Castle, so at the very least, he’s convinced he can tie and he’ll consider that a win in his book.

“Take that, Bread Boy !” Qian exclaims when she finishes the course in second place, while Kyuhyun embarrassingly ends in fifth.

“I get a word wrong _one time_ ,” Kyuhyun groans dramatically. “ _One time_ and it haunts me forever. It’s not my fault your language had to make everybody’s lives difficult by adding useless tones to words.”

“It’s way better than your overly complicated Yoda speech,” Qian quips.

“At least our alphabet makes sense,” Kyuhyun counters.

Yes, they’re really having an argument about which language is better between Chinese and Korean. And no, this isn’t the first time this happens, because they developed a pattern of randomly switching between the two when they interact with each other and confusion often ensues.

They’re too busy bickering, in fact, that they completely miss the green light on the second course and embarrassingly end up in seventh and eighth place right from the beginning.

“Did you set this at 200cc ?” Qian questions, now realizing just how quickly everyone is going when she tries to catch up and keeps drifting involuntarily.

“It’s the only right way to play this game,” Kyuhyun grins.

“I hate you so much right now,” Qian grumbles, eyes fixed onto the screen.

“I know you do.”

Qian knows the chuckle that follows his reply is anything but innocent, but she doesn’t have time to react before a red shell is thrown her way, stalling her long enough to allow Kyuhyun to drive right past her. Offended by this, and really intent on winning this fucking course because she also knows the other two are hell on earth to her, Qian catches Kyuhyun off guard by kicking him off the couch and making him fall on his butt on the floor, startling him long enough for her to catch up to him, but sadly not enough to pass him as she’d hoped to do.

“You’re such a sore loser,” Kyuhyun laughs, getting back at her by swiftly pulling on her leg and making her lose her balance—which is somehow possible, she finds out, even if she was already sitting—and completely disorienting her for a moment, allowing Kyuhyun to create more distance between them.

He’s in sixth place now while she’s still stuck in eighth, but she’s not about to give up so easily.

Straightening herself back up, Qian kneels on the couch behind Kyuhyun, and while still trying her best to still focus on the game, she hooks her arms around his neck in an attempt to reach down and steal his controller from his hands, which results in absolute failure thanks to Kyuhyun being an actual giant and keeping it at arm’s length just out of her reach.

“If all you wanted was a hug, you could’ve asked instead of coming up with such an elaborate scheme to do it,” Kyuhyun tells her through his laughter. He has some trouble remaining focused on the game as he tries to pry himself away from her, but it doesn’t cause him to lose his spot in the long run.

“Ew,” Qian pretends to gag. “As if I’d ever want to hug you voluntarily.”

“You’re a very bad liar, I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you that,” Kyuhyun claims. “But sure, if you say so. I guess I’ll have to hug you _involuntarily_ , then.”

Qian doesn’t have time to process what he means by that before she’s forcefully pulled down the couch right as Kyuhyun crosses the finish line—screw this horrible timing—almost toppling down over his shoulder, and she lands ungracefully right across his lap. She’s too shocked to react at first, torn between scolding Kyuhyun or joining him in his laughter, so she ends up doing both once she gets back to her senses.

“Cho Kyuhyun, I swear to everything holy that I will stab you in your sleep tonight,” Qian threatens him, but the giant smile on her lips doesn’t make her claims very convincing.

“Didn’t think you were into knife play,” Kyuhyun mocks her. “Sadly, I’ll have to decline as it’s not really my thing. No kinkshaming, though.”

“Please don’t put the image of us having sex into my head,” Qian pleads him, acting disgusted.

“Why ? Scared you would like it ?” Kyuhyun flirts.

“I just don’t want to be disappointed,” Qian retorts before pulling herself up.

Kyuhyun expects her to scoot over and either sit by his side or go back onto the couch, but she surprises him by settling right between his legs without even asking—he can’t say he’s complaining, but this is about the last thing he expected to come out of this situation.

“What makes you think I’d disappoint you ?” Kyuhyun wonders, still speaking in that same teasing, flirty tone he’s been using since they started playing.

“Lack of experience ?” Qian brings up as if it were the most obvious answer to that question.

Kyuhyun is convinced she’s trying to cheat again when she leans back against him to use his chest as a back rest, because it definitely makes it harder for him to comfortably hold his controller as the third course is about to start.

“I am wounded by your assumptions,” Kyuhyun pretends to be upset.

“Am I wrong though ?” Qian prompts.

“Actually, you _are_ ,” Kyuhyun affirms. “Now, I will give you the fact that I haven’t dated in a while, but… I’m not actually a virgin. Shocking, I know.”

“What ?” Qian exclaims. She’s heard so many jokes about Kyuhyun being either an incel or a virgin that she just assumed his friends were teasing him because it was actually true, so this is news to her. “I thought…”

“Most people think that, yeah,” Kyuhyun confirms, shrugging. He doesn’t sound like he’s bothered by it at all, though. “I never denied it so they assume it’s true.”

“Why ?” Qian ponders curiously. She’s a little confused about it, because while she doesn’t think being a virgin is a bad thing or an insult, she doesn’t understand why Kyuhyun would just want people to think he is—he’s never been the type to shy away from talking about sex, so she can’t help but wonder about that.

“Mostly to keep her identity a secret,” Kyuhyun explains. “She’s from a very conservative family, and word of mouth goes fast when you’re in high school. No way I could’ve gotten away with telling my friends I lost my virginity without having them harass me to know who she was, so I never said anything about it. It’s not like we were dating anyway.”

“I… wow,” Qian blurts out. “That’s… that’s actually really nice of you to have done that. Maybe I’m generalizing but teenage boys are usually the type to boast about these things.”

“I probably would’ve if I didn’t also kind of regret it,” Kyuhyun chuckles. He can look back on it with a lighter heart now, so he doesn’t hold as much bitterness as he used to even just a year ago. “There’s just something about taking someone’s virginity in the backseat of your shitty beat up car while both piss drunk that sounds like such a douchebag thing to do, you know ?”

Kyuhyun subconsciously tightens his hold on her—a very subtle change, one that he barely notices and that Qian simply doesn’t at all—almost as if he were afraid she’d see him in a different light now, but if this is the reason, he’s not yet aware of it.

“Sorry for being so serious all of a sudden,” Kyuhyun forces a laugh to try to lighten up the mood. He realizes that he’s on his last lap now—he’s been playing the game almost on autopilot this whole time. Maybe he spends too much time playing video games if he’s able to do that.

“No, it’s fine,” Qian assures him. She’s just passed the finish line, meaning she actually won against him, but doesn’t have it in her right now to rub it in Kyuhyun’s face. “I’m just really surprised. But in a good way. Sure, what happened isn’t fun but I think you handled it really well given the circumstances. And, you know, it’s not like you were more at fault than she was. You were both drunk. You do dumb shit when you’re drunk.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Kyuhyun concedes.

“I wouldn’t have thought you could be such a _gentleman_ ,” Qian then adds, teasing him a little. “Though I will deduce points for forcing me into this position.”

“Excuse me ?” Kyuhyun feigns offense. “Maybe I’m the one who got you down here but _you_ chose to sit right there.”

“That’s also your fault,” Qian insists. “You make a comfortable human pillow. I’d be dumb not to take advantage of that. And as a bonus, I won again, so it’s worth it.”

“Just admit you think I’m the perfect man,” Kyuhyun jokes. “We both know you wanna say it.”

“Hm, maybe I would if you knew how to cook,” Qian humours him.

“Joke’s on you then,” Kyuhyun claims. “I’m actually pretty decent at it.”

“Oh, really ?” Qian raises an eyebrow. “I’d love to see that.”

“If you manage to _not_ get last place on Rainbow Road, I’ll cook for you tonight.”

“You’re on.”

“Have you ever heard about grocery shopping ?” Kyuhyun asks mockingly as he stands in front of a near empty fridge.

Qian must’ve been really into the idea of him cooking for them both, because not only did she manage to win the challenge, she also came close to beating his ass in the other cups they played after.

Kyuhyun offhandedly reflects over just how fast time passes whenever he’s with her, because he swears it didn’t feel like five hours had passed already.

He’s been pretty confident in his ability to impress her up until then, but he realizes now that he’s stuck in a corner because Qian really doesn’t give him a lot of room for creativity with what little food she has—worst of all, he doesn’t know what belongs to her and what belongs to her roommate, so he may end up having to work with even less, and there’s something about not living up to his word that really doesn’t sit well with him, especially when Qian is involved. His fried rice just has to be the best in the world, he guesses, because that’s about the only thing he might be able to do.

“I don’t think I have, no,” Qian plays along, a mischievous smirk creeping on her face as she stands behind him to look over his shoulder.

She really doesn’t have much he can work with, she has to admit to herself, and part of her feels bad for Kyuhyun right now. But that’s a very tiny part—she’s very amused by this for the most part, because she likes seeing Kyuhyun struggle. Serves him right for being good at everything else he tries without even putting effort in.

“Well, it’s what you call going out to buy food,” Kyuhyun continues as he moves on from the fridge to the cabinets—at least she’s got rice and some spices, unless those are Sunyoung’s, which he really hopes isn’t the case. “I don’t even know what you own in there.”

“The bag of rice is mine,” Qian chuckles at his restrained bitterness. “The eggs and the vegetables in the bottom left drawer of the fridge too.”

“Thank God,” Kyuhyun sighs in relief. “You’re really not making it easy on me.”

“Are you trying to find excuses to weasel your way out of this, Mr Cho ?” Qian accuses.

Kyuhyun doesn’t know if it’s the flirtatious tone of her voice or something else he can’t quite put his finger on that hits him then, but for a second there, the idea of trapping her between him and the nearest counter to kiss her traverses his mind. He shakes it away almost immediately, though, because while he knows she’s most likely on the same wavelength as he is—the obvious, unmissable playful flirtiness in her voice gives her away—she also just provoked him, and Kyuhyun really isn’t one to back down from a challenge.

“Never,” Kyuhyun holds his ground, taking a step forward to shorten the gap between them. “I’m about to make you the best goddamn fried rice of your life, just watch me.”

“I’m watching,” Qian chuckles.

Kyuhyun is confused for a moment when she brings her hands up to lay her palms flat against his chest, but to his dismay, she uses that leverage to push him away towards the stove. Disappointing.

“I’m just going to need you to tell me where your stuff is,” Kyuhyun reminds her then.

“Right,” Qian nods before walking past him to crouch in front of the cupboard on the left side of the stove.

She takes out a pan that she hands out to Kyuhyun before crawling under the counter so she can reach for the cooking oil stored further away. Kyuhyun chuckles to himself—she looks so cute there trying to work with how short she is. He wonders how she manages to reach the top shelves; she probably has to climb on top of the counter, and the image makes him smile a little wider.

God, his crush on her is almost _sad_.

“There,” Qian exclaims as she jumps back to her feet and turns around to face him, handing over the bottle of oil she has to hold with both hands. “Now go work your magic. I’ve got this really great take-out place near here on speed dial.”

Kyuhyun squints at her as he grabs the cooking oil. “I love how supportive you are.”

“Of course,” Qian nods proudly. “I’ll always be there as emotional support for your failures.”

Kyuhyun sighs in defeat, staring at her with a deadpan expression. He could argue further, but it’ll just lead them to nowhere in the end, and he believes the best way to shut her up is to just prove her wrong.

“Why don’t you be supportive and wait somewhere else, then ?” Kyuhyun nudges.

“Are you kicking me out of my own kitchen now, mister ?” Qian raises an eyebrow, jaw dropping slightly in disbelief.

“Yep,” Kyuhyun confirms immediately. “No girls allowed in the kitchen tonight.”

“What a modern man you are,” Qian hums.

Qian lightly pats Kyuhyun on the chest before jumping up to sit on the small breakfast counter in front of the stove so she won’t be in the way while still being able to see what Kyuhyun is doing. But with her kitchen being quite cramped, the man can still clearly feel her presence behind him, the same as if she were standing right against his back, and claiming that this isn’t distracting would be a blatant lie on his part. He’s not very used to working in such a tight space—the kitchen in his apartment is much bigger in comparison, but he eventually manages to settle into the feeling; there’s a strange sort of domesticity that comes along with Qian being so close, even if she’s not doing anything at the moment. She’s not even talking to him, which is definitely strange to Kyuhyun, but he doesn’t really mind it all that much.

He knows she’ll grow bored eventually. She’s very similar to him on that front—staying put without anything to do but stare at the ceiling makes them both uneasy and fidgety thanks to their hyperactive minds.

“Wait, you can’t use that,” Qian warns him suddenly as he’s about to add oyster sauce to the rice. “That’s Sunyoung’s.”

Kyuhyun stares at her for a moment, unmoving, before pouring a drop of the sauce in the rice with a completely straight face and without looking away. Qian’s jaw drops in surprise, but a smile tugs at the corner of her lips as she tries not to laugh at how fucking childishly defiant Kyuhyun is being right now.

“Oh no, I’m so clumsy,” Kyuhyun feigns shock, trying his hardest not to crack up himself. He’s not even trying to sound convincing. Quite the opposite, actually; he’s purposely using a flat, extremely sarcastic tone as he speaks, and Qian nearly snorts as she starts giggling despite her efforts.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” Qian gasps through her laughter, and soon enough, Kyuhyun is joining her in as he stirs the rice in the pan to make sure the rice isn’t patchy.

“What she doesn’t know can’t kill her,” Kyuhyun justifies. “It was a noble sacrifice for the greater good.”

Grabbing the border of the countertop to keep her balance, Qian stretches out to kick Kyuhyun’s ass to scold him, taking him by surprise and forcing him to turn around to look at her, but the shock on his face quickly turns into a smirk that lets Qian know he’s about to say something really stupid again.

“You’re moving fast,” Kyuhyun states, pretending to be both scandalized and into it at once. “At least let me ask you out on a date first, jeez.”

“This can qualify as a date,” Qian shrugs playfully.

“Can it ?” Kyuhyun verifies. He can’t tell if she’s actually being serious under the flirty, teasing tone of her voice. He wishes she were.

“I don’t know, depends on what you want,” Qian asserts. This isn’t helping him at all.

Kyuhyun doesn’t know at first if he should tell her he’d love to consider this a date. She’s leaving him an open door to push things forward, but he’s a little caught off guard by how quickly it escalated. He didn’t expect Qian to bring this up so openly and so soon, though he knows it was bound to happen at some point. He’s not completely clueless. He knows she likes him too—there wouldn’t be this heavy tension between them whenever they were alone if this were just a one-sided thing.

“What if I want it to be a date ?” Kyuhyun tries, walking up to her to look her in the eye more closely. He means to stay teasing too, but he comes off much more genuine and serious than he intended to and it catches Qian off guard too.

She blinks at him a few times, speechless for what has to be the very first time since they’ve met. “I’m okay with that,” Qian smiles at him, feeling a bit sheepish about her reply.

There’s a long, drawn out silence that follows then where all they do is stare at each other without purpose. What are they even supposed to say to each other now ? They’ve definitely just crossed the line of friendship, they’re very aware of that, and deep down they know there’s no going back but under the joy and relief they both feel about that, it’s so awkward that it freezes them in place, like this, Kyuhyun standing in front of her with both hands supporting him on the counter on either side of her thighs and leaving her not knowing what to even do with her own hands.

Kyuhyun’s never had this strong of an urge to kiss her than he does now, but he’s hesitating, because he doesn’t know how she feels about that just yet. Her expression is unreadable, just as his is, and he doesn’t want to take the chance until he’s certain that this is what she wants too.

He can’t ponder over this for very long, though, because the smell of something burning catches his nostrils, bringing him back to life in the most brutal way possible in that moment.

“Goddammit,” Kyuhyun curses as he turns the heat off and immediately starts inspecting the damages.

It honestly doesn’t look that bad, but some of the eggs have stuck to the bottom and there’s a few charred patches stuck to the rice where the oyster sauce burned onto it. He should just throw those out and salvage the rest, but the idea of picking the dish apart to make sure none of the fucked up bits remains sound like such a hassle that he honestly considers just throwing it out and giving up on it.

“Should we split the bill on the take-out ?” Qian mocks, phone already in hand.

“That’s the easy route,” Kyuhyun scoffs—he’s just now the motivation to start throwing away the waste thanks to Qian’s comment. “I said I was gonna cook for you. I only have one word.”

“Giving your date food poisoning on the first one is a very unique way to go about it,” Qian snickers as she jumps off of the counter to grab a spoon from the first drawer on the left. “Let me see how bad it is.”

Kyuhyun scoots to the side a little to give her space, and for the first time since he started cooking, he actually feels nervous about what she’s going to think. It’s such a bizarre feeling to him, and the thrill he’s still experiencing from the realization that they are more than friends now only amplifies it; he’s rarely been this antsy before, if ever, but he finds that it’s not such a bad thing overall.

There’s a moment where his mind goes blank as he stares at Qian expectantly, white noise filling his brain instead, when all she does is stand there in complete silence after giving the rice a taste. He gets a little worried at that, and he’s already flinching at the thought that she might actually hate it, even if he knows she’ll probably take it lightly and make a joke out of it instead of getting mad for wasting her food.

Her initial answer, however, just ends up confusing him.

“I hate you so much,” Qian blurts out with a defeated sigh. “Honestly. This is so unfair.”

“What ?” Kyuhyun struggles not to laugh once it fully settles in his mind why she’s responding this way. She _liked_ it. “What did I do ?”

“This,” Qian gesticulates towards the pan. “This is what you did. You fucked up really badly and still made something good. I can’t believe you.”

If Kyuhyun didn’t know her, he would’ve thought she was actually offended by this—and she may actually be, though it’s out of spite rather than genuine anger. In any case, this is a relief to him; he’s now just becoming aware of how important it was for him to impress her, or at least make something she would enjoy too, even if his competitiveness is what brought him there in the first place.

“Told you I was the perfect man,” Kyuhyun winks at her, which earns him a slap on the chest with the back of her hand. “Who also happens to be the victim of domestic violence.”

“Domestic _payback_ ,” Qian corrects.

“You’re being so mean to me,” Kyuhyun fake cries. “Maybe you should just order take-out and I’ll eat this on my own.”

“No,” Qian refuses a little too hurriedly. “You made this with my food, so I have the right to eat it if I want to.”

“Nice catch,” Kyuhyun chuckles. “Home-cooked dinner and a movie ? How’s that sound ?”

“Make me watch a horror movie so you have a reason to cuddle while you’re at it,” Qian sneeringly suggests.

“Now that’s an idea,” Kyuhyun grins, voice dropping an octave without his input.

“No,” Qian warns him. “We’re not doing that. I can’t handle horror. Last time I watched one I ended up having to cover all of my mirrors because I was scared I’ll see something in there. There weren’t any mirror ghosts in that movie !”

“One more reason to do it, then,” Kyuhyun insists playfully. “I can stay the night to protect you from the monsters.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Qian stops him, keeping him at arm’s length when he tries to hug her, but her strength falters when he pulls her closer to him by the waist and she ultimately can’t fight back against him.

Not that she really wanted to, but it’s not like she’s going to admit that out loud.

“Weren’t you the one who said I made a comfortable human pillow ?” Kyuhyun brings up to her. “You know that’s going to haunt you forever now, baby.”

Despite wanting to clap back at him so desperately, Qian freezes in place at the nickname. It came out so naturally that she doesn’t even think Kyuhyun realized what he just said himself, and though she knows he has a habit of using that name with his friends to tease them, her included, it hits so differently now.

“Don’t call me that,” she stammers as she tries in vain to will the blush creeping up on her face away, _somehow_.

“What, baby ?” Kyuhyun double-checks.

Qian swears she can hear the giant, stupid smile on his face in his voice; she doesn’t even need to look at him. Which she doesn’t even want to do in the first place, because she doesn’t want him to see just how flustered she’s getting from that simple word alone. It’s almost pathetic. Laughable at best.

“Why ?” Kyuhyun asks. “I think it’s cute, personally.”

It takes her a ridiculous amount of time to reply; God, she wishes she could just come up with a clever comeback right now, because letting him take the win in such a moment is a hard blow to her competitive ego. He’s such a little shit. He doesn’t deserve to have the upper hand, but he makes her weak and there’s nothing she can do about it.

She knows he’s got a huge soft spot for her too, but she still has yet figured out how to use it to her advantage, unfortunately for her.

“Because I like it,” Qian mumbles eventually, catching Kyuhyun completely off guard. He didn’t expect her to just admit it so easily, but it’s not like he has any complaints about it either.

“It suits you,” Kyuhyun shrugs nonchalantly. Pet names aren’t as big of a deal to him as it is for people like Jongwoon for example, but he still thinks it’s sweet to find one for his significant other or even his friends. “Just as cute as Qianqian,” he adds then. He couldn’t help himself.

“I’m gonna call you Bread Boy until the end of your days,” Qian threatens as a response, successfully pushing him away this time.

“First date and you’re already talking about spending the rest of your life with me,” Kyuhyun coos before reaching out to poke her cheeks playfully. “You’re so cute, Qianqian. Or baby ? What do you prefer ?”

“I prefer you being suffocated by a pillow,” Qian grumbles, refusing to answer that question despite the itch to tell him she likes being called ‘baby’ once again.

“I know you’re impatient but let’s at least eat first before taking things to the bedroom,” Kyuhyun reminds her.

To be honest, he almost forgot about the fried rice too, too caught up in toying with Qian the way he’s doing—for once, he’s got her completely backed up into a corner, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t absolutely love it.

“I’m not watching a horror movie,” Qian stands firm as Kyuhyun starts opening random cupboards to find where she keeps the bowls.

“We _absolutely_ are watching a horror movie,” Kyuhyun denies her. “It was your suggestion, after all.”

“I didn’t suggest it !” Qian refutes, but she’s doing a very poor job at appearing convincing.

It’s almost as if part of her, despite being absolutely terrified, wants it.

“That’s what you get for calling me cliché,” Kyuhyun winks, now holding a bowl in each hand.

“I hate you,” Qian groans.

“Come,” Kyuhyun beckons, pointing towards the living room with his chin, completely ignoring her comment. She tells him that so often that it doesn’t even faze him anymore.

Dragging her feet, Qian gives in, and she begrudgingly follows Kyuhyun to the couch, grabbing her bowl when Kyuhyun hands it to her. She’s obviously sulking—maybe she’s purposely overexaggerating her expression to get a reaction out of Kyuhyun in a last ditch attempt to convince him to drop the idea, though she knows she won’t win this one.

The idea of him staying the night with her doesn’t sound so bad after reflection.

“What are you gonna make me watch ?” Qian questions after a moment as she observes Kyuhyun browsing through Netflix’s horror category.

“One of my favourites, actually,” Kyuhyun confesses. “It’s a Shin Donghee movie starring Choi Siwon called _Limbo_.”

“Of course it is,” Qian snickers.

“Look,” Kyuhyun protests. “It’s not my fault he’s a great actor and Director Shin is an absolute thriller horror genius. Would you rather watch a paranormal movie full of jumpscares ?”

“God no,” Qian immediately responds. “Limbo sounds great.”

“Now, there _is_ a ghost in this,” Kyuhyun informs her. “But there’s maybe like, three jumpscares at best, and it’s not a ghost lady in a white nightgown and long black hair.”

“That’s… at least something, I guess,” Qian concedes, already curling up to herself against the armrest on the other side of the couch the moment the movie begins.

Kyuhyun actually hesitates to scoot closer to her for a few minutes, feeling both uneasy about leaving her on her own and a little sheepish about the whole situation. It’s as if the comfortable silence that has settled between them was the last nail in the coffin to truly hammer down the fact that damn, this is really happening, they’re technically dating now in a way, and the reality of that has just fully dawned on him now. He ultimately decides he’s got nothing to lose, since she did state that the whole point of watching a horror movie on a date is to have an excuse to cuddle, so it’s not like she doesn’t expect that.

“Come here,” Kyuhyun invites her in without taking his eyes off the screen, letting her know that even if he looks completely focused on the movie, she still has all of his attention, and there’s something about it that just warms Qian’s heart.

Kyuhyun sets his now empty bowl down on the coffee table and Qian mimics him before pushing herself to Kyuhyun’s side and letting him wrap an arm around her shoulder. She lays her head on his, but keeps her hands to herself for now. This is new to her too, and it still feels a little awkward to be doing this now, but weirdly enough, that awkwardness doesn’t seem to bother either of them all that much.

Surprisingly enough, Qian finds herself much more into the plot than she anticipated. She’s still scared shitless because the ominous tension that’s been present since the very beginning keeps getting worse, and even seeing the main characters gradually fall in love doesn’t help break it up as one would expect due to their complete unawareness of the creepy stalker ghost—that’s the only way she can describe it—following them around obsessively. Their story is almost tragic, and seeing how the events keep unfolding, they’re bound to end in utter disaster in the end and she’s not ready to witness that.

She doesn’t know much about Shin Donghee, but he’s most famous for almost never sticking to the ‘protagonist always wins in the end’ trope, and if they do make it to the end, it’s usually with heavy mental scarring. Bittersweet endings—that’s the word she associates with him, from what she’s heard from other people. Mostly from Kyuhyun, because he just never shuts up about him and Choi Siwon if they’re brought up in conversation.

“ _Cào nǐ mā !_ ” Qian curses suddenly when she’s brutally brought back to reality by Kyuhyun’s phone ringing.

Even Kyuhyun is startled, though it’s mostly from Qian’s sudden reaction rather than the ringtone itself.

Confused, Kyuhyun pauses the movie to check up on who’s calling him, and an uneasy feeling settles in the pit of his stomach when he sees Sungmin’s name displayed on the screen. He rarely gets a call from his friend, and it’s even weirder that he’d try to contact him knowing he was hanging out with someone else—because unlike how he is with Ryeowook, Sungmin doesn’t have the uncontrollable urge to keep tabs on him. If anything, Kyuhyun could be agonizing on the side of the road and Sungmin wouldn’t even bat an eyelid; he’d probably even scold him for being reckless.

“Isn’t that your roommate ?” Qian recalls when she reads Sungmin’s name and notices Kyuhyun’s visible confusion.

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun confirms, blinking. “Mind if I take the call real quick ?”

“Yeah, of course, no problem,” Qian assures him.

Frowning, Kyuhyun accepts the call, already bracing himself for Sungmin telling him the apartment caught on fire or something of the sort.

“What’s wrong ?” Kyuhyun speaks, not even bothering with greetings.

“It’s—” Sungmin panics. Great. This doesn’t help comfort him at all. “I don’t think I can explain this over the phone. Can you come home ?”

“Huh…” Kyuhyun hesitates as he stares at Qian, and he internally curses himself before giving Sungmin a reply. “Sure, but can I at least have an idea of what’s going on ?”

“It’s Ryeowook,” Sungmin pants.

“What about him ?” Kyuhyun inquires, immediately getting to his feet upon hearing his friend’s name.

“I think he and Jongwoon just broke up,” Sungmin finally blurts out. He sounds just as confused as Kyuhyun is.

No, screw that. Kyuhyun is so much more than just confused at this point, a million questions bouncing around in his mind—this feels so fucking surreal that he thinks for a moment that he might be hallucinating.

“They _what_ ?” Kyuhyun exclaims in utter shock. “But wait, wasn’t he supposed to be with you all afternoon ?”

“He was,” Sungmin confirms. “But he left suddenly and then— Look, it’s really complicated, but he’s inconsolable right now and he asked me to call you.”

“Fuck,” Kyuhyun curses, already jumping into his shoes. “Tell him I’m coming.”

“Please hurry,” Sungmin pleads before Kyuhyun hangs up.

Kyuhyun takes a moment to take a breath after he manages to get one shoe on, holding himself up against the wall. He can’t understand anything that’s happening right now—he almost entertains the idea that this may just be a really unfunny prank Sungmin’s pulling on him, but it really isn’t like his friend to play him like that. He saw Jongwoon and Ryeowook fight but everything seemed to have been settled when they left Gimhae, and he has no fucking clue what could’ve happened in such a short amount of time to lead to that.

Those two were so disgustingly in love that he was convinced they’d just stay together for the rest of their lives, and he can’t even begin to imagine the state Ryeowook is in right now.

“What’s going on ?” Qian questions worryingly as she walks up to him.

“I don’t… I don’t really know,” Kyuhyun reflects. “It’s my roommate, Ryeowook. He and his boyfriend just broke up and he’s enough of a mess to make Sungmin panic. I have to go to him. I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, I understand,” Qian assures him.

“Are you sure you don’t mind ?” Kyuhyun double-checks—he feels so guilty leaving her like that, especially since he promised her he’d stay with her for the night and now she’s going to be on her own in an empty apartment and he really doesn’t like that.

“Your friend needs you more than me,” she smiles at him.

“I don’t even know how to handle this,” Kyuhyun confesses as he works on putting his second shoe on. “This is so out of my comfort zone.”

“Do you…” Qian begins, but stops herself mid-sentence, immediately getting second thoughts about it.

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun nods. “I think I’m gonna need you as moral support.”

In his hurry and being too focused on what he’s even going to say to Ryeowook as he waits for Qian to turn the TV off, Kyuhyun completely forgets about his hoodie in her drier or the fact that he’s bringing his _almost_ girlfriend along with him when his friends don’t even know who she is. All that matters to him right now is to make sure Ryeowook is going to be okay—and to understand what the hell is going on, because he just can’t imagine the disaster it must have been to bring Jongwoon and Ryeowook to that point.

This is just… so fucked up.

**Author's Note:**

> *Cào nǐ mā means "motherfucker" in Chinese (literally translates to "fuck your mother"), in case you wanted to know


End file.
